SunnyHello Nice effects though.

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

jacobs-greenwood An above average Western featuring two of the genres most recognizable stars, Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott (in his last film). Both men have a history together as outlaws, but McCrea has gone straight and is now in charge of getting the gold from the mines to the bank. To help him, he hires his old friend Scott who, along with a young hothead (Ron Starr), is in town dressed up like "Buffalo Bill" and demonstrating his fancy shooting.Scott believes he can persuade his old partner to split the gold with him before they return, and must act as a buffer between the impatient young ruffian and his old friend. While en route, the three encounter a religious farmer (R. G. Armstrong) and his under socialized daughter (Mariette Hartley), who steals away to join them.The trouble really begins when they get to the remote mining town, encountering an inbred mountain family of hoodlums (which includes Warren Oates) and its judge (Edgar Buchanan).Directed by Sam Peckinpah, and written by N.B. Stone Jr., it was added to the National Film Registry in 1992.

chaswe-28402 Multiple themes unfold in this narrative. Age versus youth; innocence versus depravity; greed versus poverty; puritanism versus immorality; crime versus integrity. It is packed with incident, but seems slow. Lasts only 90 minutes but seems much longer. The acting by Scott and McCrea was OK, but not remarkable. The roles were undemanding. Mariette Hartley was excellent, and she had a very appealing and attractive presence. Ron Starr receives a lot of criticism on this site, but seemed to be doing nothing wrong. He wears a disgruntled expression, but that's part of his role. Although there are several fist-fights, as well as shoot-outs, raging drunkenness, and the girl's unlamented father is shot (off-screen), it still doesn't give the impression of a specially violent movie, at least not in comparison with some of Peckinpah's later efforts.The wedding scene was demented. The face-off with the bad guys, anticipating the ending of The Wild Bunch, at the end of the story strikes me as totally improbable and utterly unrealistic, rather like the wacky race with the camel in the opening minutes. Do camels really run faster than horses ? Much of the rest of the film seemed real. This may be due to the photography and the calm scenery. A strange mixture.

gavin6942 An ex-union soldier is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him.The movie was released on the bottom half of a double bill. William Goldman says he spoke to an MGM executive at the time who says the film had tested strongly but they felt the film "didn't cost enough to be that good". Funny looking back now and thinking that Peckinpah or Joel McCrea could ever find themselves working in a B-movie. But it is apparently true.And stranger still, despite the growing praise over the last several decades, the film allegedly lost money when it debuted. Was this because of the billing, or were people truly not interested?

bigverybadtom The beginning is a bit odd; how did the camel get where it did? But no matter; an elderly former lawman is hired by a bank to retrieve some gold from a nearby mine through a dangerous mountain area. The lawman finds an old friend and Heck, his young protégé, to help him with his task. Trouble is, the friend and the protégé both plan to steal the gold for themselves.On the trip, they visit the home of a Bible-quoting man and his daughter and stay overnight, and Heck develops an interest in her. But the daughter is unhappy living with her overprotective and tyrannical father, and goes with the others to the mining town where a boy lives that she had previously met and liked. The men get the gold as planned, and the daughter marries the boy...only to discover that the boy, his family, and the mining town they live in are much less wonderful than she had anticipated, and she wants to leave. The ex-lawman and company take her back with them...and the trouble really begins.The movie succeeds because the characters are all credible; none are entirely heroes or villains. Even the psychotic Hammond family proves willing to fight with honor. Also the movie isn't overlong or rushed. and there's some humor without the movie becoming a comedy. Recommended.